Clothes wringer



April-2, 1929. w. WRIGHT ET AL CLOTHES WRINGER Filed March 27) 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet w m INVENTOR-SI ORNE April 2, 1929. w, WRIGHT ET 1,707,835

CLOTHES WRINGER Filed March 27, 1928 2 sheets-Sheet 2 IN VENT 0R6 i0 49 m mm QJQWM a gal Patented Apr. 2, 1929.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WALTER WRIGHT, OF JENKINTOWN, AND OTTO JAEGER, 0F ELKINS PARK, PENNSYL- VANIA.

CLOTHES WRINGER.

Application filed March 27, 1928. Serial No. 265,116.

This invention relates to improvements in feeding devices for clothes wringers wherein a feed plate having afeeding edge portion movable into and from a position adjacent to the bite of the wringer rolls in close proximity thereto is adapted toreceive the clothes or other articles to be passed through the rolls and to be operated by hand to feed the clothes or articles into the bite of the rolls.

An object of our invention is to provide a novel simple and efiicient means for operating, the feed plate whereby pieces of clothes.

and other articles of varying thicknesses may be easily and quickly fed into the bite of the wringer rolls without danger of jamming or locking the rolls and without danger to the hand of the operator and without danger of the articles being wrapped around either of the rolls.

Another object of the invention is to provide a novelfeeding device which maybe easily and quickly taken from either side of the machine andplaced on the opposite side thereof so that the articles may be. fed to the rolls from either side of the machine.

lVith the foregoing and related objects in view the invention consists of. the elements and the combinations of them hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying in the invention,

igure 1 is a front view of a clothes wringer provided with my im roved feeding device showing a part of the died plate broken away and showing a support for the frame of the wringer.

Figure 2 is an end drawings, illustratview thereof, showing full lines on one side of the wringer and by dot-and-dash lines on the opposite side of the wringer.

Figure 3 is a transverse section; through the feeding device and the wringer.

Figure 4 is a perspective view of the'feeding device detached from the wringer.

Figure 5 is a diagrammatic view showing two positions of the feed plate relatively to the wringer rolls and ne of .-the cams.

Referring to the dra 'ngs, 2 designates the main frame of the wringer which inay. be supported in any desired manner. As herein illustrated, it is sup orted by an arm 3 which extends outwardly 10m a post 4 which rises from the frame 5 of a clothes washing ma chine.

The horizontally extending wringer rolls .the direction of rotation of the rolls.

'frame 12 which 6 and 7 the frame 2 and they" are carried by shafts 9 which are journaled in the frame 2. The wringer rolls are constructed to be rotated or actuated in'the usual manner well known in this art.

The lower portion of the main frame 2 is provided with a fixed drain plate 10 the respective sides of which extend outwardly and downwardly to receive water from the wringer rolls 6 and 7 and discharge it from either side of the machine in accordance with The respective ends of the drain plate 10 are provided with upwardly extending flangesll to prevent water from flowing outwardly from the ends of the plate.

Ab drain plate 10 is a tiltable drain plate 33 carried by trunnious 34 which turn in bearings in the main frame. By tilting this plate from side to side the water falling from the wringer rolls may be caused to flow toward either inclined side of the fixed drain plate 10, the plate 33 being in the tilted inclined position shown in Fig. 2 when the rolls 6 and 7 are turned in the direction of the arrows, and being tilted to a reverse inclined position when the rolls are turned in the reverse direction.

The device for feeding clothes to the wringer rolls is carried by a supplemental is detachably mounted on the main frame 2 of the wringer.

The supplemental frame 12 comprises two parallel end plates 13 which are shaped as clearly shown in the drawings and which are connected by a round rod or bar 14. The end plates 13 have downwardly opening hooks l5 and 16 spaced one above the other and constructed to be hooked over projections 17 which extend outwardly from each end of the main frame 2 to support the supplemental frame 12. Each end of the main provided with two projections 17 on each side of the axes of the wringer rolls, spaced and located as illustrated in the drawings, so that the supplemental frame 12 may be easily and quickly moved from side to side of the machine and placed upon the projections 17 on either side of the main frame, as shown by full line and by dot-and-dash lines in Fig. 2. 1

The device for feeding the clothes to the wringer rolls 6 and 7 iscarried by the suppleare located within an opening 8 in ove the central portion of the fixed mental frame 12, and it comprises a member 18 movable on the frame 12 and a feed plate 19 movable on the member 18.

The member 18 comprises two parallel end arms 20 connected by a bar 21. The end arms 20 are located adjacent to the inner sides of the end plates 13 of the supplemental frame 12 and the lower end portions of the arms 20 are pivoted, at 22, to the end plates '13, permitting the member 18 to be raised on its pivot 22, from its normal position shown in Fig. 2 to its raised or feeding position shown in Fig. 3. When the member 18 is in its lowered or normal position its end arms 20 rest upon projections 23 which extend inwardly from the bottom portions of the plates 13.

The feed plate 19 extends between the end arms 20 of the movable member 18, and the plate is pivoted, at 24, to the outer end por tions of the arms 20 near edge portion of the plate. The end edge portions of the plate 19 adjacent to its pivot 24 extend into grooves or openings 25 in the arms 20 and the inner and outer walls of the grooves 25 form stops 26 and 27 to be engaged by the plate 19 to limit the extent of its rocking movement on its pivot 24.

The member 18 is movable on its pivot 22 toward and from a plane passing through the axes of the wringer rolls 6 and 7, and the feed plate 19 is movable therewith toward and from the bite of the rolls, and, in addition thereto, the plate 19 is capable of slight movement, limited by the stops 26 and 27, in a direction transversely to the direction of movement of the member 18, so that the upper or free or feeding edge portion 28 of the plate 19 may move relatively to the member 18 up and down or toward and from the rolls 6 and 7 within the limits allowed by the stops 26 and 27 as the member 18 and plate 19 are moved from the position shown in Fig. 2 to the position shown in Fig. 3 and back again.

The rod or bar 14 of the supplemental frame. 12 extends parallel to the rolls 6 and 7, and it is arranged opposite to and spaced outwardly from the lower roll 7 and the feed plate 19 is movable between this bar 14 and the rolls.

When the feed plate 19 rests in its lowered or normal position its central upper free edge portion 28 is inwardly of and in close proxirrity to the bar 14 below the top thereof, and is held in this position on its pivot 24 by side projections 29 on the plate engagjrfig cams 30 formed on the end flanges 11 of e against the bar 14 or the stops 27 on the arms When the member 18 and plate 19 are raised from the normal position to the feeding position shown in Fig. 3, the cams 30, durmg the initial movement of the parts, permit the plate 19 to move downwardly or toward the lower or outer drain plate,-and holding the plate either the wringer rolls until the plate engages the stops 26 on the arms 18. The feed plate 19 then remains in this position with relation to the member 18 until the edge portion 28 of the plate 19 reaches the position shown at A in Fig. 5, at which time the end edge portions 31 of the plate 19 which are oil'set from the central or feeding free edge portion of the plate engage cams 32 which project outwardly from the main frame 2. During the continued movement of the member 18 and plate 19 to the position shown in Fig. 3, the cams 32 move the plate 19 on its pivot 24 and raise the free edge portion 28 of the plate from the position shown at A in Fig. 5 to the position shown at- B therein which is the final feeding position of the plate, as shown in Fig. 3. When the feed plate 19 reaches the position, shown in Fig. 3, its feeding edge portion 28 is opposite to the bite of the wringer rolls and spaced from the rolls, and further movement of the plate toward the rolls is arrested by the engagement of the end edge portions 31 of the plate with the main frame 2.

The operation of the mechanism is as follows:

The wringer rolls 6 and 7 may be rotated as indicated by the arrows or in the reverse direction, as desired. lVhen they are rotated in the direction of the arrows, the supplemental frame 12 is on the side of the machine as shown by full lines in Fig. 2. \Vith the parts in the normal position shown in Fig. 2, one edge portion of a piece of wet clothing or other article is placed over the rod or bar 14 and extended down between the feeding edge portion 28 of the plate 19 and the wringer rolls, as indicated at C in Fig. 2. This done the attendant raises the plate 19 and member 18 quickly from the position shown in Fig. 2 to the position shown in Fig. 3, by hand engagement with one of the arms 20 or the lower portion of one side of the plate 19. When the feed plate 19 is thus raised its feeding edge portion 28 will carry the edge portion of the piece of clothing 0 with it and project the piece in its folded or draped posi:

tion over the plate 19 against the lower roll 7 and on upwardly and into the bite of the two rolls 6 and and pass it on through the rolls to effect the wringing operation.

We have discovered that by constructing and operating the member 18 and feed plate 19, as hereinbefore described, the clothes or other articles to be passed through the wringer may be easily and quickly fed into the bite of the wringer rolls without danger of the attendant getting his or her hands caught by the rolls, and without danger of the clothes onother articles and the feed plate jamming in the bite of the rolls, and without any danger whatsoever of the clothes jamming and locking the rolls against rotation or injuring the clothes or other articles.

7 which take hold of the piece C to the lower roll 7 It will be observed that when the feed plate 19 reaches the position shown at A in Fig. 5, the feeding edge 28 thereof is relatively close and some distance below the top thereof and that in moving from the position shown at A to the position shown at B, the feeding edge portion 28 of the plate is bodily raised by the cams 32 while it continues to move closer to the lower roll 7 as it approaches itstinal position shown at B. '0 have discovered that this operation eii'ectually feeds all pieces of clothing to the bite of the rolls irrespective of differences in thickness of the several pieces. 'hen a relatively thin piece is being fed to the 'rolls, the feed plate 19 will move to or nearly to the position shown at B before the rolls will take hold of the piece and draw it in between them. \Vhen a relatively thick piece is being fed to the rolls the thick piece will encounter the surface of the lower roll 7 somewhere between the positions A and B and the piece will move the plate 19 upwardly on its pivot until it en'- counters the stops 27 on the arms 20, and thereafter, as the feed plate is moved inwardly the piece ofclothing will be caused to bear with some pressure upon. the lower roll 7 which will cause the lower roll to carry the piece on into the bite of the two rolls.

If the thickness of the piece being fed to the rolls is of such a character that the rolls do not readily take hold of it under the operation of the plate 'ust described, a quick upward movement of the feed plate 19 will cause the supplemental frame 12, and the plate 19 to be raised slightly as a unit with relation to the projections 17 and the main frame 2 to relieve the pressure of the piece of clothing against the roll 7 and the pressure of the plate 19 against the stops 27 and to cause the piece to engage both rolls 6 and 7 and cause them to draw the piece into the bite of the rolls. \Vhen the supplemental frame 12 is thus moved upwardly during a feeding operation, the engagementof the piece of clothing with upper roll '6 stops the further upward movement of the supplemental frame.

The rod or bar 14 of the supplemental frame 12 forms a guide'or support for the pieces of clothing as they are being drawn over the same by and between the rolls 6 and 7. The pieces of clothing are drawn to the rolls 6 and 7 substantially in a horizontal position causing buttons 011 the pieces to be presented edge first to the-bite of the rolls and thus preventing the rolls from tearing or snapping the buttons from the garments.

As the pieces of clothing pass horizontally between the supporting bar '14 and the wringer rolls, the beginning edge portions of the successive pieces may be laid upon the finishing edge portions of the successive pieces so that each successive piece will be carried into the bite of the rolls by its preceding piece,

thereby obviatirg the necessity ofoperating the feed plate 19 for each piece of clothing or other article fed to the rolls.

Vhen the wf'inger is reversed and the rolls 6 and 7 are rotated opposite to the direct-ion of the arrows. the supplemental frame 12 may be placed on the opposite side of the main frame :2 as shown by dotaunl-dash lines in Fig. :2. and the feed plate 19 operated in the same manner as" on the reverse side. Both sides of the main frame are provided with the cams 2-30 and 32 for the operation of the plate 19 in either of the two positions of the supplemcntal frame.

()ne of the trunnions 34 of the tiltable drain plate 33 extends outwardly and is provided with a downwardly projecting arm 35 either side of which is adapted to be engaged by a pin 36 projecting from one of the arms 20 of the member 18 in accordance with the position of the supplemental frame 12 on the main frame :2. \Vhen the supplemental frame is in the position shown by full lines in Fig. 2, the pin 36 will engage the arm and tilt the drain plate 33 to the position shown to drain the water from the rolls toward the side of the machine from which the clothes or other articles are being fed to the rolls; and when the supplemental frame 1:2 is placed on the opposite side of the main frame, the pin 36 will engage the arm 35 and tilt the drain plate 33 to a reverse position to drain the water toward the same side of the machine. This automatic setting of the drain plate 33 takes place at the first operation of the feed plate 19 on either side of the main frame.

'e claim as our invention:

1. In a clothes wringer and in combination, a frame, a pair of wringer rolls. a member movable relatively to the frame toward and from a plane passing through the axes of the rolls, a feed plate carried by the memberand movable therewith toward and from the bite of the wringer rolls, said plate being movable on said member in a direction transverse to the direction of movement of the member, and a cam on said frame to be engaged by said plate to move it relatively to said member whenthe member is move 2. In a clothes wringer and in combination, a frame. a pair of wringer rolls, a pivotally mounted member movable on its pivot relatively to the frame toward and from a plane passing through the axes of the rolls, a feed plate pivoted on the member and therewith toward and from the bite of the rolls, said plate being movable on its pivot in a direction transverse to the direction of movement of the member, and a cam on said frame to be engaged by said plate to move it relatively to said member when the member is moved.

3. In a clothes wringer and in combination a frame, a pair of horizontal wrin er rolls, a horizontal clothes supporting an guiding bar supported outwardly of the wringer rolls,

movable a. pivotally mounted member movable on its pivot relatively to the frame toward and from a plane passing through the axes of the rolls, a feed plate pivoted on the member and movable therewith between said bar and said rolls toward and from the rolls, said plate having 1 a feeding edge portion movable by said member from a normal position adjacent to said bar to a feeding position adjacent tothe bite of the rolls, and an element slidably engaged by said plate for moving it toward said-bar when said plate is moved to its normal position. i

at. In a clothes wringer and in combination, a frame, a pair "of horizontal wringer rolls, a horizontal clothes supporting and guiding bar supported outwardly of the wringer rolls, a pivotally mounted member movable on its pivot relatively to the frame toward and from a plane passing through the axes of the rolls, a feed plate pivoted on the member and movable therewith between said bar and said rolls toward and from the rolls, said plate having a feeding edge portion movable by said member from a normal position adjacent to said bar to a feeding position adjacent to the bite of the rolls, anelement slidably engaged by said plate for moving it toward said bar when said plate is moved to its normal position, and a cam for raising the feeding edge portion of said plate when it is moved toward the bite of the rolls.

' 5. In a clothes wringer and in combination, a frame, a pair of horizontal wringer rolls, a pivotally mounted member movable on its pivot relatively to the frame toward and from a plane passing through the axes of the rolls, a feed plate pivoted on the member and movable therewith toward and from the rolls, and a cam for moving said plate on its pivot when said member is moved, said plate having a feed edge portion which is guided by said cam to move towardand from the lower roll and which is raised by said cam to a position opposite to the bite of the rolls as said edge portion approaches the rolls.

6. In a clothes wringer and in combination, a frame, a pair of horizontal wringer rolls, a pivotally mounted member movable on its pivot relatively to the frame toward and from a plane passing through the axes of the rolls, a feed plate pivoted on the member and movable therewith toward and from the rolls, and a cam for moving said plate on its pivot when said member is moved, said plate having a feeding edge portion which is guided by said cam to move toward and from the lower roll and which is raised by said cam to a position opposite to the bite of the rolls as said edge portion approaches the rolls, and said cam guiding said edge portion to move closer to the lower roll as the edge portion is raised by the cam.

7. In a clothes wringer and in combination, a frame, a pair of horizontal wringer rolls, a pivotally mounted member movable on its pivot relatively to the frame toward and from a plane passing through the axes of the rolls, a feed plate pivoted on the member and movable therewith toward and from the rolls, and a cam for moving said plate on its pivot when said member is moved, said plate having a feeding edge portion which is guided by said cam to move toward and from the lower roll and which is raised by said cam to a position opposite to the bite of the rolls as said edge portion approaches the rolls, said cam guiding said edge portion to move closer to the lower roll as the edge portion is raised by the cam, and means to arrest the movement of the feed plate after its feeding edge portion has been raised by said cam to a position opposite to the bite of and spaced from the feed rolls.

,In testimony whereof we atfix our signatures.

WALTER WRIGHT. OTTO JAEGER. 

